Why DPDP compliance must include network configuration governance

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act places accountability on how organizations collect, process, and store personal data to help organizations stay steps ahead of threat actors. Forrester’s CIO roadmap highlights a clear shift: compliance is no longer limited to policies and consent workflows. CIOs must extend governance deeper into the technology stack, including infrastructure that directly impacts data security. (https://www.forrester.com/blogs/indias-dpdp-act-a-cios-roadmap-to-compliance-and-competitive-advantage/?ref_search=3923345_1764838097276).

One domain that often gets left out of formal controls involves network device configuration. Poorly controlled routers, switches, firewalls, and access controls expose personal data to risk, undermine segmentation, or introduce unmonitored access paths. Each of these directly maps into a liability burden. Under the DPDP Act, effective configuration governance no longer represents an operational preference but a matter of compliance.

This is where Site24x7's network configuration management (NCM) plays a crucial role.

The DPDP Act introduces clear obligations: lawful processing, consent management, breach reporting, and reasonable security safeguards. Much of the compliance discussion focuses on data flows and application-level controls. However, the network remains the foundational layer through which personal data moves.

Without visibility into configuration changes, backup integrity, access controls, and policy deviations, organizations face three gaps:

• No guaranteed audit trail when configurations change
• No automated checks to catch non-compliant or risky settings
• No rapid recovery in the event of a misconfiguration or breach

Forrester notes that CIOs must build cross-functional governance, modernize infrastructure, and ingrain privacy into operational practices. Automating network configuration management aligns directly with these recommendations.

The hidden risk: Networks often sit outside compliance scope

Many IT teams still manage network configurations manually or through device-level CLI access. Often, this results in fragmented governance due to:

• Configuration files stored in local folders or spreadsheets
• Limited visibility into who made what changes
• Inconsistent enforcement of security standards
• No automated rollback if a faulty configuration exposes sensitive data
• Device access and privileges are unmonitored or undocumented

In an environment where DPDP compliance is required, these practices create blind spots. A single unauthorized configuration change can weaken encryption, bypass segmentation, or alter access control lists (ACLs), putting personal data at risk and exposing the organization to penalties. Extending compliance to the network layer requires automation, centralized control, and continuous monitoring.

DPDP-specific technical safeguard expectations

Unlike the GDPR, the DPDP Act is outcome-driven rather than prescriptive. To interpret reasonable security safeguards, organizations rely on India’s regulatory guidance (CERT-In 2022 Directions, sectoral advisories, and industry security norms).In practice, this translates into a set of expected network-level safeguards:

• Network segmentation and least-privilege access for systems handling personal data
• Configuration integrity and drift prevention across routers, switches, and firewalls
• Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) enforcement and privileged access monitoring
• Audit trails and tamper-proof logging for investigations
• Rapid incident recovery through secure rollback
• Continuous monitoring of critical network devices
• Proactive alerts to minimize breach exposure time

These controls help demonstrate that an organization has implemented security safeguards as required under Section 8 of the Act.

Mapping DPDP requirements to Site24x7's NCM capabilities

Here is a direct capability-to-control mapping that strengthens compliance clarity:

This mapping converts NCM from a network operations tool into a verifiable compliance control.

India-specific regulatory nuances

DPDP compliance in India differs from other global frameworks in the following ways:

1. Outcome-driven, not control-driven

The DPDP Act doesn’t dictate exact technical measures. Organizations must prove their controls are reasonable, making audit-ready logs, compliance reports, and configuration evidence essential.

2. CERT-In influence on operational expectations

Indian regulators expect:

• Log retention
• Continuous monitoring
• Rapid incident mitigation
• Change visibility

Site24x7's NCM supports these requirements through timestamped logs, history retention, monitoring, and instant rollback.

3. Complex, hybrid Indian network environments

Enterprises often run:

• Legacy devices
• Multi-vendor networks
• Distributed infrastructure
• High unified payment interface and FinTech transactional loads

Automated configuration governance reduces breach risks in these high-pressure operational environments.

4. Greater scrutiny on infrastructure-level vulnerabilities

India’s regulators (including the RBI, NPCI, IRDAI, and MeitY) increasingly review network-level controls during audits. NCM helps produce the configuration evidence these audits expect.

How Site24x7's NCM closes the compliance and security gap

Continuous tracking, alerts, and audit trails

NCM automatically discovers and backs up the configurations of supported network devices. Any change, authorized or accidental, triggers alerts and is timestamped with a complete audit trail. This ensures visibility into every modification that could affect data security.

Automated compliance checks and deviation reporting

Enforce internal or regulatory security standards by defining configuration policies. NCM continuously validates device configurations and flags violations, enabling teams to:

• Detect insecure settings.
• Identify configurations drifting from standards.
• Maintain a consistent security posture across devices.

This is essential for meeting the Act’s expectations.

Rapid rollback for resilience and breach mitigation

If a configuration introduces a vulnerability or impacts availability, NCM allows immediate restoration to the last known good version.

This reduces exposure windows during incidents and supports business continuity requirements in compliance reviews.

Cloud-native, unified visibility for audit readiness

NCM works hand in hand with Site24x7’s device monitoring, traffic analysis, and performance dashboards.

Compliance and security teams get a consolidated view of configuration health, device behavior, and change history—all crucial for audits and periodic governance reviews.

Compliance and operational benefits for CIOs

Implementing NCM as part of a DPDP compliance strategy helps CIOs and network teams achieve:

Stronger security posture

Automated checks, change alerts, and version control help reduce human error and minimize risks associated with misconfigurations.

Streamlined compliance reporting

Centralized logs, historical versions, remediation history, and compliance scans simplify audit preparation and ensure compliance.

Faster incident response

Rapid rollback minimizes downtime, limits exposure during breaches, and aligns with regulatory expectations for quick mitigation.

Reduced operational overhead

Teams spend less time manually tracking changes, maintaining spreadsheets, or recovering from configuration-related outages.

Embedding NCM into your DPDP compliance roadmap

Here's a practical implementation approach:

1. Identify critical network devices involved in personal data flows.
2. Automate configuration backups and enable change notifications to ensure seamless updates and maintenance.
3. Define compliance templates for ACLs, AAA settings, encryption, and other security baselines to ensure consistent security across all systems.
4. Enable continuous compliance checks and track deviations.
5. Integrate NCM data into internal audit and incident response workflows to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness.
6. Review configuration reports during periodic governance and risk assessments to ensure compliance.

This brings network infrastructure into the same governance framework that organizations are applying to data processing and application security.

Strengthening DPDP compliance with automated network configuration governance

The DPDP Act elevates data protection expectations across the board. While organizations work on consent workflows, data handling policies, and privacy governance, the network layer must not be overlooked. Misconfigurations can directly lead to non-compliance, data exposure, and operational disruption.

Site24x7's NCM provides organizations with the automation, visibility, and control necessary to integrate network configurations into their compliance framework, thereby strengthening safeguards, enhancing audit readiness, and reducing risk throughout the entire data life cycle.